Chapter 565 Pioneer Battle by the River (4k 2-in-1)
"Your Highness, just watch here." As the captain of the Third Order Company, Alpheus Taylor stopped Prince Condai as he stepped forward. "Their devil's wind can blow very far."
Surrounded by guards who were cutting down bushes to widen the road, they were flanked by buglers and flag bearers waving flags.
Standing on a mound, Prince Condai was wrapped in an animal skin cloak, squinting his eyes and looking at the semicircular battle formation in the distance.
Nearly a hundred carts formed a long wall on the river beach. Thick door shields and sandbags were inserted into the large workshop. Behind the door shields were seven or eight halberdiers and spearmen.
On each chariot, seven or eight holy gunmen can be seen standing, with flails and sabers attached to their waists.
Standing in the carriage, the holy musketeers placed black musket tubes on the triangular gaps in the side panels, and released a musket from time to time to intimidate the light cavalry wandering around the edge.
Behind the long wall, the barge slowly sailed to the other side downstream, about to transport a new batch of Salvation Army soldiers onto the river beach.
Prince Condai arrived not too slowly. In less than half an hour, he arrived with four companies of orders.
But at this time, compared with the nearly 2,000 infantrymen when Ali Toge reported, the number had more than doubled.
There are at least four thousand infantrymen behind the long wall. They wear uniform black knee-length waist-length shorts and tie their wide trouser legs with leg straps, making the khaki military trousers look like bubble pants.
At this moment, the spearmen, in a unit of 300 people, formed an irregular polygonal gun array behind and along the semicircular car fort.
The densely packed spears shone with the luster of the scorching sun, causing Prince Condai to squint his eyes.
His eyes swept back and forth on the river beach, turned his head, and shook his head at La Cunho.
"Alpheus, Edmund, Gallian, each of you three will lead a command company and charge one after another, but don't be too eager to fight. It's best not to suffer any casualties." Turning his head, Prince Condai faced the three beside him. The captain of the imperial company ordered, "The Eagle Group has fought before, so there is no need to use it this time. Let Sternberg of the Death Group lead the charge once."
When it comes to the question of what to fight and why, His Highness the Prince may be confused, but when it comes to the question of how to fight, he is very excited.
If he had just relied on bravery to charge, he would definitely not have the prominent status and prestige he has now.
And this time, he treats the Salvation Army as a formidable enemy. He cannot try to save trouble like before. I don't care about you, just rush.
"Woooooo——"
The flag bearer waved the blue and black checkered flag, and at the sound of the horn, the knights, who were the light cavalry, took the lead and rushed towards the car formation.
"It's coming, it's coming." Delawan couldn't help but remind him while tugging on the sleeve of Backen, the third guard regiment clerk next to him.
After the war in Kasha County, all the students from Holy Weapon Tingflick Middle School who were still on the battlefield were promoted to a certain extent.
Because Delavan and McGowan could read and write, they both worked as scribes with the Legion's clerks.
As if he hadn't heard anything, Bucken was still directing the orderlies to assemble the small clockwork trebuchet.
Delavan could only anxiously direct the placement of supplies while looking towards the front line.
The first thing he saw was a rain of flying arrows flying diagonally into the sky, crossing a parabola, and flying towards the holy gunman on the chariot.
The continuous clanking sound of arrows hitting the armor could be heard clearly even by Dravan behind.
The arrows landed on the carriage board and the standing black-clothed soldiers. Occasionally someone groaned, but almost no one fell down.
The squire knights used riding bows, which were relatively weak in power. Unless they hit the weak points of the armor, it would be difficult to break through the defense of the holy gunners.
At present, the rate of vest plate armor of The Salvation Army is more than 60%, which is not a lot, because it is more than 60% after expanding the army to six legions.
These vests and plate armor are basically worn by veterans. They usually consist of a brimmed hat and a set of breastplates. Some pikemen also have arm armor and thigh armor.
They can basically ignore the shooting of ordinary mounted bows.
The arrows on the wooden board of the carriage were still shaking, and few of the comrades standing beside him had fallen.
Above the battlefield, amidst the sound of arrows piercing the air, there was again the sound of clockwork twisting and gears turning.
The black muzzle protruded from the triangular gap, aiming at the knights not far away who were preparing to turn away after shooting the arrow.
"Praise the Holy Wind!"
The screams in the air pressure balance holes stung the eardrums of the soldiers who opened the air. They were all shaken, and hundreds of lead bullets flew out in waves.
"Lie down!" The squire knights screamed as they turned around to see the black line approaching.
They immediately lay down on their horses, surrounded by the sound of rag bags being punctured and the clatter of chain mail scattered on the ground.
The war horses cried out, and the knights thrust their backs forward suddenly, falling off their horses one after another.
When the attendant knights raised their heads again, at least a dozen of them fell off their horses and a dozen of them were injured.
Several war horses were running around on the river beach because of fear. The ground was full of wailing knights covered in blood. Several company captains looked tense.
The former captain of the Fifth Order Company, Elard, was right. The power of the Devil's Wind was greater than they imagined, and it was not just a more powerful crossbow.
"Can you actually penetrate the mail?" Edmund and Alpheus looked at each other, and suddenly understood why these Salvation Army were invincible.
The power of the devil is really tempting, it would be great if I could recruit a group of people to surrender.
The squire knights here had just finished deceiving a wave of lead bullets. As they turned around, they saw a yellow dragon smoke and dust rolled in sand coming towards them. Under the fluttering swallow-tail flag, it was Gallian, the captain of his company.
Passing by the whirling attendant knights, Gallian led a hundred order knights and square flag knights, divided into three groups, and headed straight towards the gaps in several chariots.
"Rush over and knock their chariot away!"
Galianka's time was just right. At this time, the holy gunmen were changing positions. The holy gunmen behind him walked to the gap with sweating profusely and extended the muzzle of the gun out of the chariot.
"Bang bang bang!"
In panic, several tanks around them fired their cannons one after another.
Feathers were flying in the smoke, and at least five or six knights screamed and fell to the ground, but Gallian himself roared and suddenly lifted the reins.
Amidst the neighing of the war horses, he and several knights of the order seemed to fly up, jumped over the door panels and shields and jumped into the back of the chariot.
Several other knights of the order even crashed into the chariot and the door panel and shield as hard as they could. The door panel and shield seemed to explode, sending sawdust flying everywhere.
The war horse whined and pressed on the spearman behind the door panel and shield.
The chariot was knocked crookedly, and although the wheels were pulled by chains, a gap began to appear.
The holy gunmen in the carriage swayed left and right and almost fell out.
The seven or eight knights of the Order who fell off their horses because of the breach jumped up on the spot, grinning ferociously and drew out their knight swords, and attacked the halberdiers and spearmen who were injured by the horses.
These spearmen, whose breathing techniques were only three levels, were certainly no match for the Order Knights without forming a formation.
Within three to five rounds, heads and limbs flew up, and the blood and screams made the holy gunman in the car, who was wielding the flail and winding the clockwork, turn pale.
But they were afraid of returning, but they still listened to the officer's order subconsciously, resisting the impact of the flag knights, and winding up the clockwork desperately.
Delawan swallowed and froze in place. He didn't even care about the original command to move the goods, and just stared blankly over there.
This is the first time Dravan has seen the power of the Order Knight.
"What are you looking at?" Bucken, the legion clerk, slapped Dravan on the back of the head. "You are not a front-line fighting monk. Do your own thing."
"But a big gap is about to be made in the front." Delavan said in frustration, covering his head.
Bucken sneered: "Gap? Is it possible that there is no car formation, so we are afraid of them? Just wait and see, if they dare to come in, they will suffer big losses!"
........."Suffer death, pigs!"
Kicking away an axe-gunner, the armored knight snatched the battle ax from the soldier's hand.
He ran two steps in a row, jumped up high, and struck the chains of the war workshop with his axe.
As sparks flew everywhere, the chains immediately broke. Under the push of the knights, the two chariots were slowly pushed away.
Seeing that a gap was opened in the car formation, Gallian couldn't help laughing: "Go on, break down their gun formation and kill them."
Dozens of knights with square flags immediately filed in through the gap. In the distance, Prince Condai's face darkened, and he immediately shouted: "Blow the horn and let them come back. They are too far forward."
The flag bearer's cheeks puffed up, and the clarion call of the bull's horns spread across the battlefield, while Gallian raised his head in confusion, still wondering why.
However, his doubts did not last long.
Because what stopped at the same time as the sound of the horn was the sound of the clockwork being wound up.
"Praise the Holy Wind!"
A depression suddenly appeared among the knights pouring in from the gap, and blood was freely sprayed in the air.
The distance of twenty meters is almost the maximum killing distance of lead.
With the popping sound of lead being inserted into flesh, the knights watched in horror as their companions fell one after another.
"Mader, they have holy gunmen on both sides of the spear formation!" shouted an order knight.
I don't know when, four rows of holy gunmen stood in the gun array. On both sides of their shoulders were spears thrust diagonally forward, and they aimed and fired slowly in their hands.
After another wave of lead bullets flew, the holy gunners in the front row divided into two teams, turned left and right collectively, changed from horizontal row to column, and walked neatly from the gap between the two square formations to the back of the gun formation.
At this time, if you rush over, you might be able to defeat those holy gunners.
But this place is only twenty or thirty meters away from the spear formation. The knights have just been beaten by the holy gunmen, so they may not be able to increase their speed.
Listening to the more urgent horn sound in the distance, Gallian made a choice between continuing to overwhelm the Holy Gunners or retreating.
"Retreat, retreat immediately!"
After being blocked by the chariot and the holy wind, as well as having to turn, their speed was no longer the same as before.
Without speed and impact, the combat effectiveness of these knights dropped by more than one order of magnitude.
"Leave the spear level! Run and charge!" the legion commander roared through gritted teeth.
"Kill -" amidst the battle cry, three hundred spearmen lined up in neat formation, killing the knights like a giant hammer.
The knights who were lagging behind fought first. Their horses kicked and kicked, but they were still poked with bloody holes in their buttocks by the spears.
After slowing down, the knights were first hooked by the halberds, and then seven or eight spears were handed out in succession. They could only wave their shields and knight swords to block the thrusts in shock and anger.
Their armor is definitely strong enough to protect against spear thrusts, but there are always weak points in the armor, especially at the edges and junctions.
In front of the knights were their companions blocking the gap, with dazzling spears on both sides, and holy musketeers shooting on the chariot.
Soon, several bloody holes were poked out of the shoulders, legs and armpits of the lagging knights.
Or some simply stab the horse to death and drag the knight directly off the horse.
After leaving behind a dozen corpses and wounded, the remaining knights finally rushed out of the car formation.
But rushing out with them were the Holy Gun Cavalry led by Jeanne.
Seeing that Gallian's Order Company was first stabbed down by several Order Knights by the Salvation Army's gun array, and then chased by the Holy Gun Cavalry, Prince Condai's face became even more ugly.
"Idiot! An idiot that can be put on display in a museum!" Prince Condai cursed angrily, holding back his anger and shouted behind him, "Berthold, go and take care of me."
Berthold, a titled knight and the Knight Commander of the Thousand Valley Parish Temple, immediately killed him.
Seeing Berthold rushing towards him with his troops, Jeanne did not continue to pursue him. Instead, she fired a burst of holy muskets at him and then returned to the car formation.
Discipline comes first on the battlefield. The goal of Jeanne and the Holy Gun Cavalry is to expel and hunt down, not to continue fighting with the enemy.
The vehicle formation cannot move and is a defensive formation.
Before all the infantry are present, if the battle expands, it may disrupt the overall situation.
As for Bertholdt, forced by the power of the Holy Gun, he did not continue the attack, but returned to Prince Condai.
Turning to look at Bertholdt who was leaving, Jeanne secretly cried out what a pity.
If only Berthold could repeat what happened just now.
In this "exploratory" attack, the other side left at least forty or fifty corpses and prisoners, while our own side only had twenty or thirty corpses.
If the fireball crossbow was assembled or the wizards arrived, the knights would only suffer more casualties.
With the chariots and holy guns, the battle damage exchange ratio between them reached two to one, and even this exchange ratio was between cavalry and infantry.
Even if Prince Condai stakes all the knights, it will not cause any change. At most, the exchange ratio will become one to one or one to two.
But even so, Horn can still afford the replacement. Anyway, he becomes a holy gunslinger in three months and a veteran in half a year.
It would take at least ten years for Prince Condai to train an edict knight.
If the infantry comes later, use clock bombs and fireballs to deal with them. If not, there is also the classic spider silk ball.
Sheng Sun Mian has too many cards.
In terms of positional warfare and defensive warfare, the Salvation Army can definitely be ranked among the top three in the empire.
This was not deliberately created by Horn, but the Salvation Army has always had to deal with the attacks of the Order Knights and Extraordinary Knights, so it naturally developed this anti-cavalry positional warfare style.
"Your Highness the Prince." On the mound next to the river beach, Gallian half-knelt down beside the Prince's horse in shame, "Their wind-up guns moved too fast, we didn't expect it."
Prince Condé ignored him and asked La Cunho: "How?"
La Cunho replied with understanding: "Eighteen of the battle casualties are known to have been killed, and there are twenty-three wounded and prisoners, but the remaining more than thirty lightly and seriously wounded have been picked up."
Nearly one-seventh of the first edict was lost in one breath, and Prince Condai's face twitched with distress.
He rode on the horse and kicked the half-kneeling Galian: "Don't you understand my order? Fortunately, they can't move, otherwise there will be more casualties!"
Gallian stood up in disgrace: "I know I was wrong, Your Highness, I will lead the military stick myself..."
"No, there is still time to use you." Prince Condai interrupted him, "When this battle is over, we will settle the matter together."
"As you command, Your Highness." Gallian quickly gave a chest-stroking salute to Prince Condai with gratitude.
"Then...should I continue to rush?" Alfors asked tentatively as he looked at the car formation.
"Of course." Prince Condai's face turned slightly red, "I have told you a hundred times what a lion looks like and how terrifying it is, but it is better for you to touch it and see for yourself.
Of course you are frightened when you see a lion for the first time. After the fright, as long as you can survive, you will have the courage to fight the lion. Alfors, you continue, but remember, don't overdo it again. ”
"As you command, Your Highness!"
(End of chapter)